{Celebrate} Valentine’s Day | Jar Of Hearts
January 17, 2012 in All Posts, Celebrate, Play, Popular, Toddler Activities
I’m so excited to bring you this Valentine’s Day activity, which is part of Toddler Approved’s 100 Acts of Kindness Project!
My inspiration was Christina Perri’s Jar of Hearts - a melancholy song about a tortured break up - but this activity is about recognizing love and kindness in another and creatively expressing thanks for that person’s generosity of heart. It’s a very simple way of introducing the concept of kindness to a toddler or teaching an older child the importance of kindness and encouraging her to demonstrate thoughtfulness in every facet of life.
Materials
- cardstock, construction paper or regular paper
- stamps, markers, pencils, crayons, watercolors, paints or pens
- a jar (we used the same kind we did for this project)
- scissors (we used zig zag-edged scissors)
Step 1
Stamp, draw or cut out paper hearts.
First, we made apple-stamped hearts using a carved piece of apple and red paint.
Then, we cut out a strip of two hearts at a time and folded our mini heart cards in half.
Next, we made water color hearts by cutting heart shapes out of Jane’s watercolor paintings.
Step 2
Write down the qualities that you think make your recipient a kind person.
This next step was really interesting to do with a 3 year old! I asked Jane why she loved Daddy and what made Daddy kind. At first she didn’t quite understand our “game,” but after I explained to her what kindness was, she was on a roll! While she was rambling, I jotted down everything she said verbatim. Then I copied her words into our heart cards and onto the backs of our heart cutouts.
Step 3
Fill your jar with the hearts.
After stuffing our jar with hearts, I put on a few finishing touches by adding a piece of gingham tissue to the lid of the jar and attaching a Salt Dough Valentine we made last week (tutorial coming!).
I can’t wait to see Hubby’s face when he reads all of Jane’s wonderfully honest messages!
In case you’ve never heard it:
Happy Valentine’s Day!
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Chrissy – who has written 426 posts on The Outlaw Mom® Blog - Creative Living in a Conventional World.
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This is such a special activity! The notes in your cards warm my heart.
So, Hubby opened these while I was away on my trip and he thought it was the coolest gift ever. I’m so glad I was able to leave a little VDay love for him even though I was away.
[…] {Celebrate} Valentine’s Day | Jar Of Hearts […]
This is such a beautiful activity! Anyone would love to receive such a special gift! I featured your post and photo in my week 2 kindness challenge post at http://livingmontessorinow.com/2012/01/23/montessori-monday-kindness-challenge-2-montessori-inspired-kindness/
Thanks, Deb! I loved doing this together with my daughter and can’t wait to see how my husband reacts when he reads the messages on Valentine’s Day. Thanks for featuring our post
[…] If your family is interested in Valentine’s Day and enjoys crafts, make something like the Jar of Hearts from Outlaw Mom. […]
That is such a beautiful craft! And not only is it beautiful, it’s absolutely the sweetest. I’m sure he adored each message. What a lovely memory!
Oh, thank you, Joyce
I’m waiting until Valentine’s Day to give it to him because I’ll be out of town that week. I think he might want something extra-special.
Wow that looks beautiful. I love the song too!
Isn’t it such a beautiful song? Thanks for stopping by, Ali
Absolutely adorable and lovely! Great post!
Maggy
Thanks, Maggy
(Happy you are no longer in my spam comments!)
This is beautiful!!!!! I love the “adorable feet” and “fixing everything” comments. That is just great. We’re pasting those awful Christmas Cards (the backs that were ok with a photo of the kids) onto red doilies.
Pretty photos!!!
Oh, that’s a great idea for reusing those failed photos! It’s so funny the way kids interpret the world, isn’t it?
This is seriously such a wonderful activity to promote spreading kindness and love. Thanks so much for sharing it with my readers and participating in the kindness challenge!
Thanks for having me at Toddler Approved and for inspiring us to do this activity! We can’t wait to start all the 100 Acts of Kindness Project challenges and share them. Such a great idea